Stop & Stare
by Inspired by a Kiss
Summary: What if Logan hadn’t been cut off for only one episode? What if his Dad’s firm went bankrupt and Logan had to leave PCA? A year later he returns on a scholarship, expecting things to be same as when he left… Turns out he’s in for quite the surprise. DL


SUMMARY: What if Logan hadn't been cut off for only one episode? What if his Dad's firm went bankrupt and Logan had to leave PCA? A year later, he returns on a scholarship, expecting things to be same as when he left… Turns out he's in for quite the surprise. DL and some CZ.

WARNINGS: Some swearing and some sexual references. Maybe some mild sexual situations in later chapters. They're 16 in my fic and a lot less innocent than in the show because I just can't write teenagers that way, lol. Logan's OOC because he lost his money and I think something that big would definitely change him.

DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't own them.

**CHAPTER ONE **

Returning to PCA was one hell of a weird experience, Logan decided. Wherever he turned his head he saw preppy girls with expensive handbags and arrogant, rich guys strutting around while texting their friends on their flashy Sidekicks and Teck mates. Not so long ago, he'd fit right in.

Now, on the other hand…

He looked down on his scruffy white Puma's and sighed, hoisting up his duffle bag. It was time to head to the dorms. He vaguely hoped he'd been put in with Chase and Michael again, although they might not take too kindly to that. He didn't think anyone knew he was back. Keeping in touch with his old friends hadn't exactly been on the top of his list after leaving PCA.

"Logan Reese? Is that _you_?"

Even after over two years of absence, he recognized that voice in a heartbeat. A pretty brunette bounded over and flew in his arms. "Hey, Nicole. The all girls school cure you of that OMGD then?"

Nicole giggled. "Not a chance. Lola helped me. She came over last year and gave me some acting lessons. I basically tricked my parents into thinking I was turned off boys until my eighteenth birthday at the very least. Isn't that _cool_?"

Logan smirked. The way she'd yet to let go of him, it was pretty obvious she still had a bit of a guy obsession. Not that he minded her feeling him up.

"So, anyway," she rambled on. "How _are _you? I'm like, so excited for the new year. I didn't know you were coming back though. I mean, I got back in the middle of sophomore year so they told me all about you becoming poor and how you _never _took their phone calls – why didn't you, actually?"

Logan shrugged. He couldn't tell Nicole if he didn't even know the correct answer himself. "Busy, and all that."

"Riiight. Doing what?" Nicole asked curiously.

A pink Jet X stopped a couple of feet away. Zoey Brooks, her hair a lighter blonde than Logan remembered it, stepped off of it, looking like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Studying," Logan said in answer to Nicole's question. He felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm back on a scholarship. What's up Zo?"

"Logan Reese?"

He rolled his eyes. How many times were people going to ask him that? How many brown-haired, super hot guys walked around on this campus anyway? Exactly, one. No need to ask for confirmation.

"The one and only," he replied lazily. "Miss me?"

Zoey let out a surprised laugh. "A scholarship? Wow. You have changed."

Logan flashed a smile. "Hotter than ever, huh?"

Zoey flicked back her hair with an exasperated sigh. "Then again, maybe not." She dropped her helmet on the floor. "Oh, come here." She spread her arms and he smirked, putting his arms around her in a light hug.

He pulled back after a few seconds and grinned cheekily. "Couldn't wait to get your hands on me, could you?"

She punched him on the shoulder. He winced. "Hey, that _hurt_!"

"Zoey plays tennis now," Nicole explained enthusiastically. "She's really good at it. Coach says she has the strongest arms on the team."

"I can believe that," Logan muttered, rubbing his shoulder. That was going to leave a mark.

"Anyway guys, I gotta take off," Zoey announced, picking up her helmet and fastening it. "I promised Chase I'd meet him behind the Science building like, half an hour ago. But let's all hang out later, okay? I already made reservations at Giovanni's."

"Awesome!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Giovanni's?" Logan asked.

"New pizza place. You'll come, right?" Zoey looked at him expectantly. "We'll catch up."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Logan lied. Shit. Zoey might not hold a grudge for him practically disappearing off the earth – she was nice like that – but Chase and Michael probably would. They might not like it if Logan all of a sudden got back to hanging out with them as if the last year had never happened.

Still, they'd talk it over. Logan was glad he'd gotten the scholarship. In a way, it was comforting to be back and see that nothing had changed during his absence. Except for Zoey dying her hair back to a lighter blonde, of course.

Logan suddenly perked up, thinking of something. "Hey," he asked Nicole. "Chase and Zoey together yet?" They _had _to be. They'd been incredibly close the night before Logan left and he'd been convinced Chase would finally spill his secret to her.

"No_oooo_," Nicole laughed. "He's been dating Quinn for ages!"

Wait. What?

Nicole clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, this is fantastic." She hooked her arm through his and started leading him towards a bench. "I'll fill you in about _everything_. I have so much to tell you! Like, over the summer, Lola hooked up with Michael, but she swears it's just a one-time-thing, and last year Dana dated this _gorgeous _senior –"

Logan halted abruptly, causing Nicole to stumble back awkwardly. "Dana's back?"

"What d'you think, that she was going to stay in Paris forever?" Nicole looked at him, a weird look crossing her face. "You _really_ didn't keep in touch with anyone, did you?"

"Like I said – busy." Like he'd, of all people, would know what Dana was doing with her life. She might've been on the top of his "wanna make out?" list, but other than that she'd pretty much been a spoiled little bitch.

Nicole was still naïve enough to take Logan for his word and dragged him on, blabbing about people he absolutely _must _meet and how he should come support her during cheerleading try-outs. Logan was fairly sure she didn't need him or anyone to go cheer her on by the sidelines – if bouncy Nicole couldn't make the squad (apparently led by a certain Rebecca he couldn't recall) no one could.

As Nicole made a move to sit down, Logan pulled himself loose from her death grip on his arm. "I gotta drop off my stuff. But hey, if you're looking for some… _company_ later on, drop by. I'm in—"

Nicole intercepted by slapping him on the arm. What she lacked in force, she made up for it by hitting him in the exact same spot Zoey had only a couple of minutes ago. He swore loudly.

"You can hit on me later." She giggled. "I actually have to go too. They put Lola and Zoey together in 101 and me and Dana in the other room – the DA must be insane – and I've got to make sure they switch me and Zoey or Lola around. There's no way I'll room with Dana for another year. I'm like, _still _traumatized from the previous experience. My psychologist—" Aqua's Barbie Girl started up and Logan started, looking around confusedly. Nicole blushed ("What? It's a cute song!") and picked up the phone. ("Oh, hi, Lola! Yeah, I'll be right there. I _know_, right? Sure, one sec!")

Nicole covered her phone with her hand. "Sorry. Lola's got a guy emergency. And since I'm the expert on that area… bye!" She skipped off, still happily chattering to Lola.

Logan chuckled lightly and started walking again. He needed to get to his dorm – _fast_. All of his apprehension at seeing Chase and Michael again had disappeared after finding out Chase had moved on from his three-year-crush to _Quinn_ – of all the girls in the world, why would he date the science freak? – and as if that wasn't enough, now Dana was back too? He wondered what else had changed.

-

The door to his dorm was open and Logan swallowed nervously, before plastering on the mask of self-confidence and arrogance he'd perfected over the years. He swaggered in like he'd never left PCA and whistled appreciatively. The room was bigger – probably because the older you got, the more privileges your room would have – and, according to the steam coming out from under the door on his left, had its own bathroom.

Closing the door behind him with a slam, Logan dropped down his bag and rubbed his aching shoulder. Michael must be the one in the shower since Zoey had told him she was going to meet up with Chase behind the science building. To be honest, Logan was glad he wouldn't take on his two former best friends together.

He could be exaggerating, of course. There was a possibility that neither Chase nor Michael would care all that much that he was back. Maybe they weren't even angry that he'd left without telling anyone. Logan had, after all, always been the one they'd been the most annoyed with. He'd often wondered if he'd be friends with the two others if they hadn't been put in a room together by day one. You kind of _had _to get along with someone when they were sharing your room. Especially when that someone was the owner of a certain plasma TV and paid for your spring break vacation.

Logan rolled his eyes at his depressing thoughts and shrugged them off, telling himself to stop acting like an emo-kid.

The shower turned off and the familiar whistling of Michael floated in the room. Logan smirked. That was one thing that hadn't changed, at least. Michael _always _whistled when he exited the shower. It must make him happy, or something, because he never whistled any other time.

Michael walked in the room, eyes closed in after-shower-ecstasy and a towel wrapped around his hips while applying… _facial cream?_

"Dude," Logan said. "That's so gay."

Michael screamed.

Logan cursed loudly and jumped back in surprise, holding up his hands when Michael opened his eyes searching for the offender who'd entered his room, one hand fisted in attack-mode while the other tried to hold up his towel. His face was still marred with a couple of white splotches and Logan couldn't help it; he laughed. Loudly.

Michael's jaw dropped, baffled. "Holy crap… _Logan_?"

Logan was about to tell him to close his mouth before he'd catch any flies but, apparently, Michael got past his initial phase of total and utter surprise, and proceeded by punching Logan in the eye.

"Son of a BITCH!" Logan shrieked (in a real manly way) and stumbled back, almost losing his balance.

Michael darted backwards, a grin on his face that reminded Logan suspiciously much of the one of a Cheshire-cat. "Ha! I've been waiting for _ages _to do that!" Michael stated enthusiastically. "Logan, man, what's up?"

Logan let out an impressive stream of various expletives he'd picked up on in public school. That fucking _hurt_. "Damn," he finally ground out.

Michael shrugged apologetically. "You had it coming. You can expect another one of those the moment Chase lays eyes on you, by the way."

"Can't wait," Logan muttered.

"We agreed we were going to do it at the same time, you know," Michael continued conversationally. "But—" he grinned a bit awkwardly "—I guess I just couldn't stop myself. There's some ice in the fridge, I think."

"Thanks." Logan gingerly removed his hand from his eye. Maybe the ice would stop his eye from swelling _too_ much. His roommate was crazy if he expected Logan to let Chase get in another one of those punches – he wasn't going to walk around like some friggin' panda. At least now he was _prepared_.

Besides, if Chase was still as scrawny as Logan remembered him, there was nothing to fear.

_I may be shorter, but I've got muscles, _he thought defiantly.

"So…" Michael wrung his hands in a manner that distinctly remembered Logan of his grandmother – without the boniness and the wrinkles.

"So," Logan said mockingly.

Michael was starting to look mildly irritated. "Yes, SO. Start talking! I haven't seen you in, what, like a year and two months?"

"Something like that," Logan said vaguely. "There's nothing much to tell. _Really_," he added at seeing his friend's incredulous expression. "Dad's firm went bankrupt and he couldn't afford sending me to PCA anymore which is why he pulled me out and I left."

"Riiight," Michael stated. "Left where?"

"What do you mean?"

Anger once again bubbled up in Michael's stomach. Logan was a lot of things, but dumb wasn't one of them and for him to be acting so uncooperative and stupid…

Michael seriously wanted to hit him again.

At seeing Michael's expression Logan held up his hands quickly. "All right, fine! I went to stay with my uncle in Seattle until my Dad cleaned up his act and found himself a new job. Then I moved to New York with him for the second half of sophomore year and spend the summer with my Mom –" He flinched almost imperceptibly before quickly continuing "– and I guess now I'm back again."

"Huh." Michael still looked a bit disgruntled. "Still doesn't explain why you never took our calls."

Logan flushed slightly. "Yeah, well… I have an explanation for that." _Why didn't I think of one before? _

Silence.

After a beat, Michael said sceptically, "Sure you do," but then shrugged and dropped himself down on the bed lazily. "Whatever. I just can't believe you're not rich anymore."

Logan's face fell and he shot an almost longing look to where he used to have his plasma TV and stereo installation. "Me neither. I was good at it, too."

"Hey!" Michael suddenly realized something. "How come you're back if you're not rich?"

"Scholarship." Logan hid his embarrassment behind a passive face. Great, now they were going to think he was a nerd too. Maybe they'd try to hook him up with Quinn next. Not that that was possible, since she was dating Chase… Damn, what was up with _that_? Not giving Michael a chance to respond to the scholarship news, he smoothly changed the subject and asked about the 101 on who was dating whom these days.

Michael shot him a weird look. "What do you care?"

"Just curious. Nicole mentioned some things I found a bit hard to believe so…"

"You found out about Quinn and Chase right? Well if you're coming to me for an explanation I'm sorry – can't give you one. No one knows what's up with the two of them. One day they barely talked and the next we walked in on them practically making out in the lounge. Everyone figured it wouldn't last but it's been five months now and they're still together so I guess they're truly into each other."

"How could anyone be into _Quinn_, of all people?" Logan said, venom dripping off his tone. "She's such a – "

He got intercepted by a whack on the arm. He was really collecting them today, wasn't he?

"Don't finish that sentence," Michael warned him. "She's not as weird anymore, you know. It's been a year, people change."

Logan snorted. "Sure." As if.

He could tell Michael picked up on the sarcasm but apparently chose to ignore it, starting in on some of the other events Logan had missed. "We have Homecoming and Prom now. Nikki Jameson won Queen twice last year – no surprise there – and whoever she dated at the time won King. We didn't actually go to the dances though – as sophomores, we weren't allowed to. Now that we're juniors, however…"

Logan involuntarily flinched. He could already imagine how the girls – especially Nicole – were going to react to _that_ news. "They won't shut up all year," he groaned. "Dresses, dates, limousines… although that last one probably won't be an issue since it's on campus, right?"

"Yeah, it's in the gym," Michael confirmed, then paused for a moment, thinking. "Uh-oh, I completely forgot about Nicole. She's going to go all hysterical on our ass."

"You think Nicole only?" Logan asked. "She'll be the worst, but all the girls are going to be a hassle to deal with." He shuddered. "No girl escapes the Homecoming and Prom curse. It turns them all in mindless bimbos."

"I thought you liked mindless bimbos," Michael remarked.

"I do, but only when it allows me to get in their pants," Logan said in a 'well, that's obvious' tone. "Since Zoey is way off-limits and I wouldn't make out with the Energizer Bunny or the Science Freak even if my life hung in the balance I'm not going to benefit from any of it."

"Quinn's off-limits now," Michael corrected him. "Zoey's available." He awkwardly ran a hand over his buzzed cut. "Er, what about Lola?"

Logan removed the ice from his eye and threw it in the garbage can. "What about her?" he asked, opening the fridge to get a bottle of water. Moving back had made him thirsty, not to mention hungry. It was a good thing they were heading over to this pizza place in a while. He was seriously desperate for some decent food.

"Would you want to make out with her if she turned into a mindless bimbo," Michael clarified.

Logan smirked, sensing blackmail material. "You know," he said slowly, pretending to actually think about it. "I've never considered it before, but..." He cut off at the look on Michael's face which clearly meant that the boy was either insanely jealous or incredibly constipated. Logan lifted a casual eyebrow. "Why? What's it to you?"

"N-nothing," Michael sputtered. "Curious, that's all. Don't you have a girl back in New York or something?"

"Multiple." Logan arrogantly ran a hand through his curls. "A couple in Seattle, too."

"Still the same womanizer then? Didn't find a girl you'd want to settle down with?" Here, Michael looked almost wistful. It was obvious _he_'d already found that girl – Lola.

"Hell no. Dude, I'm sixteen. I'm way too young for anything serious. Besides… when I _do _want to – what's that word you used? Right, settle down, whatever – do all that serious shitit has to be with someone gorgeous and smart and preferably rich so I won't have to worry about her sucking me dry if we ever get a divorce. Right now, I haven't found anyone yet."

"Gorgeous, smart and rich," Michael pondered, sarcasm dripping of his tone. "Wherever at PCA would we find that?"

Logan threw a pillow at his head. "She has to sharp too. And funny. And I _hate _drama queens. They _never _shut up. So yeah, wherever at PCA do we find that?"

"Okay, so maybe Nicole isn't the sharpest crayon in the box," Michael admitted. "And Lola—" He visibly perked up at the name "—can be a tad dramatic sometimes. You still haven't ruled out Zoey or Dana."

"Please," Logan said scornfully. "Zoey's too damn perfect. She's probably hiding her psychotic tendencies under that good girl exterior. I swear, if there's anyone on campus most likely to turn out a serial killer, it's _her_."

"I'll make sure to warn Chase," Michael said dryly. "What's with all the swearing, anyway? Something you picked up on in the year away from Malibu?"

"You could say that." Logan didn't even realize when he did it anymore. It was something automatic. Sure, he could blame it all on public school, but after spending a year attending them he didn't really see a difference between the students of PCA and the students of the two schools he'd went to in Seattle and New York. Maybe the students at PCA had more money because of their generally wealthy parents, but that was basically it.

No, Logan was pretty sure the swearing had evolved because his life had started to suck and problems had popped up more frequently. If he recalled it correctly, the first time he'd let out a stream of words his Grandma would slap him for was because his credit card had gotten declined at Sushi Rox. It hadn't been the last time, since during the first couple of months of his sudden poorness, he'd often blocked out that knowledge and tried to buy some impressive electronic device despite the fact that he had only had about a dollar on his bank account.

If he had a shrink the doctor would probably classify this as a classic case of denial.

Michael's cell started to beep and the boy jumped off the bed, enthusiasm practically radiating off his body as he read the message. Logan rolled his eyes. He dared to bet the text was from Lola. Michael was _so _whipped. Pathetic.

"Lola sent me a text," Michael confirmed Logan's thoughts. "She says we're all meeting up at Giovanni's in an hour."

"Yeah, I know. Zoey told me when I arrived."

"This is awesome," Michael flipped shut his phone. "The whole gang's back. You, Dana, Nicole… it's going to be like a reunion or something."

"Awesome," Logan agreed unenthusiastically. He still had that punch from Chase to look forward to. "I'm gonna grab a shower and change then."

"Cool. I'm going to unpack and stuff."

Logan opened his suitcase and pulled out a pair of boxers and a plain black shirt. His jeans were ripped, but since he only had two pairs and the other one was hidden somewhere on the bottom of the suitcase, he decided it would have to do. His narcissistic side still missed the days were his closet had been filled with all sorts of clothes, but on the other hand, he was good-looking enough to pull everything off. A pair of scruffy jeans wouldn't change how hot he looked.

He went into the bathroom, saying over his shoulder, "Don't leave without me. I don't know where the pizza place is."

"Sure thing," Michael said.

Logan shut the door behind him. He couldn't wait to scrub all the weariness of the sixteen-hour travel period off of him before catching up with everyone over a hot pizza and some soda. He'd never thought he'd come to think this, but…

It was good to be back.

TBC.

_Author's Note:_

_Sorry for the grammar and spelling mistakes. English is not my first language and I know I make mistakes… I rely on the spelling check mostly but it doesn't fix everything so… sorry! _

_I got this idea after reading about the episode Logan Gets Cut Off. I haven't seen all that many Zoey 101 episodes since I can't find any with good quality eps online and Nickelodeon in my country keeps screwing up the programming. Also because of that, I know this fic isn't that great but hey… I get an idea, I write it, lol. _

_Anyway, thanks for reading and if you've got the time drop a review and tell me what you think! _


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